Two large Russian amphibious assault ships sail off to Mediterranean

Comprehensive monitoring mission starts September 5 or 6

MOSCOW, September 3 (Itar-Tass) - Russia’s Black and Baltic Sea Fleets’ Ropucha-class landing ships Novocherkassk and Minsk have sailed off for the Mediterranean Sea, the press service of the Russian defence ministry told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.

“The Russian Navy continues stage-by-stage rotation of warships and support ships of the standing naval force in the Mediterranean,” the spokesman said. “Having passed through the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, the big landing ships will reach the designated area in the Mediterranean Sea on September 5 or 6 to start their mission under the command of the remote zone headquartered onboard the big anti-submarine ship of the Russian Pacific Fleet Admiral Panteleyev.”

Currently, one of the key tasks of the Russian standing naval force in the Mediterranean is “comprehensive monitoring over the air, underwater and surface situation in the zone of its deployment,” the Russian defence ministry said, adding that the rotation of Russian warships in the Mediterranean Sea would continue till mid-September.